Tom Cruise’s SpaceX journey could set a new bar for spaceflight

• Space tourists have been flying in orbit since a millionaire made the first such flight in 2001.
• Now, the startup Axiom Space has chartered the first fully private orbital mission, called Ax-1, which could be launched as early as October 2021.
• Captain Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut, will be joined by three private passengers, likely including Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman.
• “It’s important to me that our crew is respected,” López-Alegría told Insider. “I don’t want to give anyone an excuse for not liking us.”
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

This year, a private company can charter a private spacecraft, fill it with private passengers, and put it into orbit in the hands of a private astronaut.

The expedition is set to be the first of its kind, and the gravity of that responsibility is not lost on its commander, Michael López-Alegría, a retired NASA astronaut who has become vice president of business development. for Axiom Space, which finances the historical flight.

“I really want this crew – who forever sets the bar for commercial human spaceflight, if you really think about it – to be as good as they can get,” López-Alegría recently told Insider in a high-profile interview.

Called Ax-1, the mission could be launched as early as October in a Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket, both built by SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk.

Read more: SpaceX Seeks To Raise Another Big Round Of Funding, Wants To Double Its Valuation To $ 92 Billion

López-Alegría will serve as mission commander, joining him as Israeli businessman and former fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe. While not officially announced, all evidence to date suggests that the other two passengers will be actor Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman. The crew will travel to the International Space Station, stay for about a week (where Cruise and Liman plan to shoot a movie), and return to Earth.

“I’ve only ever met one of them in person, just because of the COVID circumstances,” López-Alegría said. “But I feel like I know them pretty well and ironically, even though they are private astronauts, these three feel like people who could have been selected as astronauts before – which means I got there. feel like they all have the right stuff. “

But López-Alegría has made it clear that he doesn’t plan to take it slow.

“ I have to play both a good cop and a bad cop to them ”

Joel Kowsky / NASA

In 2001, millionaire entrepreneur and engineer Dennis Tito became the first orbital space tourist to pay his own way, flying aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS. The hindsight and objections of NASA leaders and astronauts were numerous and vigorous.

“The argument used by NASA was that I was not qualified,” Tito told Forbes in 2017. But he noted that Russia had been training cosmonauts for four decades. “It was an insult to suggest that they would slip into someone who was not trained,” he said. “For me, writing the check was a small part of it. For eight months I trained in the cosmonaut center outside Moscow on a Soviet-style military base. I lived in a two-room apartment, made my own bed, and cooked my meal. “

Tito opened the door for many others like him, ultimately helping to change his mind within NASA – including that of López-Alegría.

“I wasn’t very excited to be flying with a private astronaut in 2006, and came home with another private astronaut. I wasn’t too excited about it,” he said. “But my experience with the first one – Anousheh Ansari – really changed my outlook. In fact, that’s really why I entered the commercial space, because of that experience.”

After a while at Axiom, which wants to charter a few private missions to the ISS per year, López-Alegría raised his hand to order the first. With four space flights to his name and previous experience with private passengers, he emerged as the natural choice when the question arose among Axiom executives.

“My job as a captain is to try to identify each other’s strengths and weaknesses, including my own, and to build the strongest team possible using this knowledge intelligently. I am very confident that this crew will not just be successful, but will exceed NASA’s expectations. ” he said of Ax-1.

Yossi Zeliger (CC BY-SA 3.0)

López-Alegría says Axiom will begin crew training about four months before launch, although this will likely be prolonged given the frequent slips in the planning of rocket launches. He intends to make good use of this time.

“It’s an interesting needle that I have to thread. On the one hand, I firmly believe that human space flight is possible for a large majority of the population. You don’t have to be Superman, you don’t. you don’t have to be Einstein, you don’t have to be Da Vinci. You just have to be open-minded and willing to learn, “López-Alegría said.

On the flip side, López-Alegría added, they have to be professional, prepared and on time – and he’s willing to switch between Drill Sergeant and Den Mother to encourage them in any way.

“I have to play both a good cop and a bad cop to them,” he said. “I think the most important message is that we are family as a crew. We have to really work as a team, we have to learn to communicate and we have to stand up for each other. I think we are already on the road. path to success. “

The serious start of a commercial era in human spaceflight

Axiom Space

López-Alegría says he’s going to be extra vigilant with his crew not just because of the stakes for his business, but the entire commercial spaceflight business.

In fact, despite NASA’s historic objections to air tourists, the agency has recently warmed to the idea. In 2019, he announced that private citizens could stay on the US mods at a cost of around $ 35,000 per night. A year later, NASA began funding efforts to help build private replacements for the ISS, which will be desorbed around 2030.

Axiom, for its part, wants to build a multi-module orbiting facility called Axiom Station, or AxStation, before the destruction of the ISS.

“The people at NASA began to realize that the ISS was a finite resource and that to have a successor we had to start sowing the seeds for an economy in low earth orbit. So they started to open their arms more and more for business ideas, ”he said.

Still, López-Alegría is aware that no matter how hard he and his crew work, it could be a slog to change your mind within NASA, its Astronaut Corps and other space agencies around the world. .

“It’s important to me that our crew is respected. But I realize it’s a tough climb at first; we’re starting with a deficit. That’s part of the reason I don’t want to apologize to anyone. for not loving us, “he said.” If they don’t like us, it’s not because we’re not performing or we’re not ready, or we’re not able or not. good operators in the vehicle – this is for another reason which I think can be overcome. with socialization and explanation, and just being good ambassadors. “